By Dave Andrusko

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"Dr. [LeRoy] Carhart declined to provide specifics on how late in a pregnancy he would be willing to perform an abortion. … Dr. Carhart's fee schedule lists prices for abortions up to 22 weeks and 6 days (at that point, $2,100 in cash or $2,163 on a credit card), but notes that abortions after 23 weeks are available 'after consultation with our doctor,' and that abortions after the 27th week may take four days. … The late-term abortions, coming after the earliest point when a fetus might survive outside the womb, are the most controversial, even among some who favor abortion rights. A few of Dr. Carhart's employees quit when he told them of his plans to expand the clinic's work."
     -- From the New York Times, December 4.
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Abortionist LeRoy Carhart

It's like there is a timer at places such as the New York Times. When the buzzer goes off, somebody is assigned to write another story hailing the courage and steadfastness of abortionist LeRoy Carhart. Understandably so since the Establishment Media recognize him as having "taken up the cause of late-term abortion."

Since Carhart has long since performed abortions well into the second trimester, it is more accurate to say he may be taking up the cause of late-late abortions, although exactly how old a baby he will abort is not completely clear in the story.

As noted in the beginning quote, his fee schedule tells women that abortions "after the 27th week may take four days." In addition, according to the Times, "Dr. Carhart has also begun performing some abortions "past 24 weeks," and "is prepared to perform them still later if they meet legal requirements and if he considers them medically necessary."

In stories such as "Abortion Battle Shifts to Clinic in Nebraska," often it's what is not said, or only alluded to in passing. that is the more important.

For instance, while Carhart himself "has trained his own staff member in the technical intricacies of performing late-term abortions," Carhart's new abortion regime caused at least some personnel to quit. Not an insignificant development but one not pursued.

And while there is a line about such abortions being controversial even among "those who support abortion rights," there is nothing in the story that tells us what we've learned about Carhart over the years from his involvement in two cases involving partial-birth abortion that reached the Supreme Court. Suffice it to say that the brutality almost defies imagination and is so violent that makes even many of the staunchest pro-abortionists blanch.

A quick Google search reveals how flexible Carhart's objections can be. Just a few months ago--in the August 31 issue of Newsweek--we read, "Carhart has a few firm lines; he won't, for example, do elective abortions past 24 weeks, because the fetus is likely viable. 'It just makes sense to me,' says Carhart. 'After a certain point in time, the fetus is viable and we have to look at it differently than if it were not viable.'"

Pro-lifers in Nebraska have long complained that Carhart may be circumventing state law which (according to the Times), "bans abortions in cases when a fetus clearly appears to have reached viability, except to 'preserve the life or health of the mother.'" Now, it appears, Carhart is circumventing his own "firm lines" about just exactly how far he will go.